Lamp piece for vehicle

ABSTRACT

A vehicle lamp. A lamp chamber is partitioned by a lamp body in a vessel-like shape and by a front face lens, a reflector is attachedly inserted with a light source and is contained in the lamp chamber, and an aiming mechanism is interposed between the lamp body and the reflector for supporting the reflector inclinably to the lamp body. The reflector is inclined by rotating an aiming screw supported by a screw inserting hole provided at the lamp body. A rear end portion of the aiming screw projects to the rear side of the lamp body and includes an integrated crown gear made of a metal. A disk face of the gear is provided with a raised wrench engaging portion for engaging with an L-shaped wrench to thereby operate to rotate the aiming screw by using the L-shaped wrench extending from the side of the lamp piece. Aiming screw adjustments can be carried out even when there is no rear space behind the lamp piece. The wrench engaging portion can be formed simply.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a vehicle lamp of a movable reflectortype in which a reflector attachedly inserted with a light source isinclinably supported by an aiming mechanism to a lamp body, and thereflector is inclined by rotating an aiming screw supported by the lampbody. In particular, a vehicle lamp of a movable reflector type in whicha rear end portion of an aiming screw projects to a rear side of a lampbody has an integrated gear in a shape of a circular disk rotatable by adriver.

2. Description of the Related Art

FIGS. 8 and 9 illustrate a conventional vehicle lamp. An inside portionof a lamp chamber S is partitioned by a vessel-like lamp body 1 and afront face lens (not shown), and a reflector 2 has an attached lightsource (not shown) inclinably supported by an aiming mechanism. Thereflector 2 (optical axis of lamp piece) is inclined by pivoting anaiming screw rotatably supported by a screw inserting hole 1 a providedin the lamp body 1.

A rear end portion 4 a of the aiming screw 4 projects to a rear side ofthe lamp body 1 and is integrated with a gear 6 having a circular diskshape. The aiming screw 4 is pivoted by bringing a tooth tip of a screwdriver 7 to mesh with the tooth of the gear 6 and turning the driver 7.In addition, the screw at the rear end portion 4 a of the aiming screw,includes a cross groove 5 and when the optical axis is intended toincline by a large amount, the tooth tip of the driver 7 is fitted tothe cross groove 5 and the aiming screw 4 is rotated by turning thedriver 7.

However, according to the above-described conventional technology, it isnecessary to form the cross groove 5 for fitting the driver at the rearend portion 4 a of the aiming screw. However, fabrication of the crossgroove 5 is troublesome and further, the screw rear end portion 4 abecomes large-sized for forming the cross groove 5, so that the weightof the aiming screw is increased by that amount, and consequently theweight of the lamp piece is increased.

Further, in order to fit the tooth tip of the driver 7 to the crossgroove 5, the driver 7 needs to operate from the rear side of the lamppiece (right behind the screw rear end portion 4 a). However, the driver7 cannot be operated when there is no rear space between a vehicle bodyand the lamp piece.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention has been carried out in view of the problem of theconventional technology and provided is a vehicle lamp capable ofoperating to rotate an aiming screw by a large amount from a directionother than a rear direction of the lamp piece.

A vehicle lamp is disclosed having a lamp chamber partitioned by a lampbody in a vessel-like shape and a front face lens, a reflectorattachedly inserted with a light source and contained in the lampchamber, and an aiming mechanism interposed between the lamp body andthe reflector for supporting the reflector inclinably to the lamp body.The reflector is inclined by rotating an aiming screw supported by ascrew inserting hole provided in the lamp body, and an end portion ofthe aiming screw projects to a rear side of the lamp body and includesan integrated gear in a shape of a circular disk made of a metal to beproximate to the lamp body. A disk face of the gear is provided with araised wrench engaging portion for engaging with an L-shaped wrench.

When the L-shaped wrench is arranged in a direction substantiallyorthogonal to the aiming screw direction and is engaged with the wrenchengaging portion and the L-shaped wrench is turned, the wrench engagingportion is turned integrally therewith. That is, the aiming screw can beoperated to rotate by turning the L-shaped wrench.

The wrench engaging portion can be formed simply by forming a cut in,for example, a U-like shape at a disk portion of the gear and raising anarea in a shape of a tongue piece surrounded by the cut. Thus, a step ofmaking a large-sized rear end portion of the aiming screw andfabricating a cross groove at the portion is avoided.

Further, by cutting and raising a portion of the disk portion, the diskportion is formed with an opening portion in correspondence with thewrench engaging portion. Therefore, the gear is light-weight incomparison to the conventional structure or a structure of fixedlyintegrating the wrench engaging portion formed separately to the gear.

A further feature may include a wrench engaging portion constituted bythree pieces of erected walls in a shape of a tongue piece at equalintervals in a peripheral direction, raised toward a center side of thegear to be brought in mesh with three faces of an inner periphery atequal intervals of a hexagonal engaging hole of the wrench. Three facesof the hexagonal engaging hole of the wrench at equal intervals at theinner periphery are engaged with the erected walls in the shape of atongue piece, the wrench engaging portion and the hexagonal engaginghole of the wrench are prevented from being turned in the peripheraldirection and by turning the wrench, the gear (aiming screw) can firmlybe integrally rotated.

By raising an area surrounded by a cut in, for example, a U-like shapeof the gear disk portion to the center side of the gear, the erectedwall in the shape of the tongue piece can simply be formed. Further, thecompact wrench engaging portion can be constituted by three pieces ofthe erected walls in the shape of the tongue piece and therefore, theconstitution of the wrench engaging portion is concise.

There also may be constructed a constitution in which the gear isconstituted by a crown gear, a teeth portion of which is inclined to adisk face thereof by a predetermined angle. The lamp body may beprovided with a first driver guide for holding a driver in a state ofbringing a tooth tip of the driver in mesh with the teeth portion of thecrown gear. Further, as shown by the embodiment, the first driver guideis constituted by, for example, a circular hole formed at an extendedportion of a metal sheet formed member interposed between a crown gearand a peripheral edge portion of a screw inserting hole.

When inclination of the gear portion of the crown gear relative to thedisk face is constituted by an angle near to a right angle, the crowngear can be pivoted by using the aiming screw inserted from a side ofthe lamp piece. Further, when the inclination is made to fall in a rangeof 0° through 90 degrees, by constituting the inclination of the teethportion of the crown gear relative to the disk face by a predeterminedvalue such that the crown gear can be pivoted by using the aiming screwinserted from a skewed front direction of a side of the lamp piece, andmaking a position of providing the driver guide and a mode of holdingthe driver pertinent, the aiming screw can be pivoted by using thedriver arranged from the predetermined direction.

Further, the tooth tip of the driver is maintained in a state of beingbrought in mesh with the tooth portion of the crown gear by the firstdriver guide and therefore, the aiming screw is pivoted firmly incooperation with pivotal movement of the driver.

Further, there may be constructed a constitution in which the lamp bodyis provided with a second driver guide for leading the tooth tip of thedriver in a direction of being brought into mesh with the teeth portionof the crown gear. Further, the second driver guide may be constitutedby, for example, a pair of upper and lower plate-like extended portionsprovided at an inclined face of a corner portion of a side face of arear face wall of the lamp body. When the tooth tip of the driver isinserted along the second driver guide, the tooth tip of the driver isbrought in mesh with the teeth portion of the crown gear and at the sametime, the vicinity of the tooth tip of the driver is brought intocontact with the first driver guide and a state of bringing the toothtip of the driver and the teeth portion of the crown gear in mesh witheach other is maintained. That is, the second driver guide is operatedas a guide for inserting to guide the driver, and the first driver guideis operated as a meshing maintaining guide for maintaining the state ofbringing the tooth tip of the driver and the teeth portion of the crowngear in mesh with each other and therefore, operation of pivoting theaiming screw by the driver becomes smooth.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a rear view of a fog lamp for an automobile according to afirst embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged rear view of a portion of the lamp of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a horizontal sectional view (sectional view taken along a lineIII—III shown in FIG. 1) of the lamp.

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view (sectional view taken along a lineIV—IV shown in FIG. 1) of the lamp.

FIG. 5 is a horizontal sectional view (sectional view taken along a lineV—V shown in FIGS. 1 and 2) of an aiming screw rotation supportingportion of an aiming mechanism.

FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view showing a structure of a firstdriver guide.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of a second driver guide.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged horizontal sectional view of a rotation supportingportion of an aiming screw according to a conventional vehicle lamp.

FIG. 9 is an enlarged vertical sectional view of a periphery of therotation supporting portion of the aiming screw of FIG. 8.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

An explanation will be given of a mode for carrying out the inventionbased on embodiments as follows.

FIG. 1 through FIG. 7 show an embodiment of the invention. FIG. 1 is arear view of a fog lamp for an automobile according to a firstembodiment of the invention. FIG. 2 is an enlarged rear view of anessential portion of the lamp. FIG. 3 is a horizontal sectional view(sectional view taken along a line (III—III shown in FIG. 1) of thelamp. FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view (sectional view taken along aline IV—IV shown in FIG. 1) of the lamp. FIG. 5 is a horizontalsectional view (sectional view taken along a line V—V shown in FIGS. 1and 2) of an aiming screw rotation supporting portion of an aimingmechanism. FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view showing a structure ofattaching a first driver guide, and FIG. 7 is a sectional view of asecond driver guide.

In these drawings, a vessel-like lamp body 10 made of synthetic resin ina fog is lamp is arranged to be contained in a predetermined recessedportion of a front bumper 50 (refer to FIGS. 3, 4, 5), and an openingportion of a front face of the lamp body 10 is integrated with a frontface lens 12 to partition a lamp chamber S. A reflector 14 inside of thelamp chamber S includes an integrally mounted bulb 18 (refer to FIG. 1)constituting a light source that is inclinable by an aiming mechanism E.

The aiming mechanism E includes a pair of left and right ball joints 20,20, an aiming screw 30 and a nut member 36. The pair of left and rightball joints 20, 20 is interposed between upper positions of the lampbody 10 and the reflector 14 and constituting fixed inclinationfulcrums. Referring to FIG. 4, the aiming screw 30 rotatably supportedby a screw inserting hole l0 a is provided at a lower position of a rearface wall of the lamp body 10. The nut member 36 attached to a bracket15 projects from a lower portion on the rear side of the reflector 14,and constitutes a movable inclination fulcrum by being screwed to ascrew portion 32 of the aiming screw 30. Nut members 17, 17 attached toa pair of left and right brackets 16, 16 project from a rear face of thereflector 14, and a ball portion 23 of a ball member 22 is attached toan inner side of the lamp body 10, and is supported by a ball receivingportion 17 a of the nut member 17 to thereby constitute a ball joint 20.

When the aiming screw 30 is rotated, the nut member 36 is extracted andretracted along the screw portion 32 of the aiming screw, and thereflector 14 is inclined around a horizontal inclination axis Lx (seeFIG. 1) connecting the pair of left and right ball joints 20, 20. Theaiming screw 30 is therefore an up and down aiming screw for adjustingthe angle of inclination of the optical axis of the lamp around theinclination axis Lx.

A rear end portion 34 of the aiming screw 30 penetrating the screwinserting is hole 10 a, is integrated with a crown gear 40 made of ametal by caulking. The crown gear 40 is arranged proximate to the rearface side of the lamp body 10. A push-on fixture brings the crown gear40 into pressure contact with a rear face wall of the lamp body toprevent detachment of the aiming screw. In addition, a teeth portion 42of the crown gear 40 is inclined to a disk portion 41 by an angle θ(which may equal 45 degrees), and as shown by imaginary lines of FIG. 5,a tooth tip 56 of a driver 54 inserted through an opening portion 52 ofthe front bumper 50, is brought in mesh with the teeth portion 42 of thecrown gear 40.

A first driver guide 60 functions to hold the driver 54 in a position tobring the tooth tip 56 of the driver 54 to mesh with the teeth portion42 of the crown gear 40. The first driver guide 60 may be constituted bya formed sheet metal member by forming a metal sheet into apredetermined shape by punching or bending, and is constituted by a flatrectangular plate portion 62 capable of being brought into close contactwith the rear face wall of the lamp body and an extended portion 64having a section in a channel-like shape covering a portion of the teethportion 42 of the crown gear 40 as shown by FIG. 2 and FIG. 6.

The plate portion 62 is provided with a circular hole 63 engageable to aring-like peripheral edge portion 10 b of a bulb inserting hole. Whenthe circular hole 63 is engaged with the peripheral edge portion 10 b ofthe bulb inserting hole, by sandwiching side edges 62 a, 62 a opposed toeach other of the plate portion 62 by a pair of locking pieces 11, 11 ina shape of an erected wall projected from the rear face wall of the lampbody, the first driver guide 60 is prevented from pivoting in aperipheral direction. O ring 39 is used to waterproof the bulb insertinghole 10 a.

At a position proximate to a portion of the extended portion 64extending from the plate portion 62, there is provided a circular hole65. The hole 65 contacts an outer peripheral face in the vicinity of thetooth tip 56 of the driver 54 and holds the tooth tip 56 of the driver54 to mesh with the teeth portion 42 of the crown gear 40. The size ofthe circular hole 65 is slightly larger than an outer diameter of thedriver 54 such that the teeth tip 56 of the driver 54 in mesh with theteeth portion 42 of the crown gear 40 can be restrained from swingingand rotational movement of the driver 54 is permitted.

A circular notch 66 is also provided at a front end of an eaves portionof the extended portion 64 covering the teeth portion 42 of the crowngear 40. The notch 66 corresponds with the circular hole 65, and thenotch 66 functions as a stopper for regulating the amount of insertionof the driver 54 and to confirm contact of the tooth tip 56 of thedriver 54 and the teeth portion 42 of the crown gear 40 in mesh witheach other via the notch 66. That is, the inner diameter of the notch 66is formed to be more or less smaller than an outer diameter of thedriver 54, and when the driver 54 is pushed more than necessary, a frontend portion of the driver 54 is brought into contact with a peripheraledge portion of the notch 66 to thereby make further insertiondifficult. Further, the operator can confirm that the tooth tip 56 ofthe driver 54, inserted from the opening portion 52 of the front bumper50 in the skewed rearward direction, and the teeth portion 42 of thecrown gear 40 have meshed with each other by viewing their contact statevia the notch 66 from an upper side of the front body of an automobileto the rear face side of the lamp.

Further, as shown by FIGS. 5 through 7, at a position of the rear facewall of the lamp body proximate to the circular hole 65 of the firstdriver guide 60, there are provided a pair of upper and lower parallelextended portions 68, 68 in a plate-like shape, and there is provided asecond driver guide 67 having a section in a channel-like shapeconstituted by a rear face wall 10 c of the lamp body and the pair ofupper and lower extended portions 68, 68 in a plate-like shape. Thesecond driver guide 67 guides the tooth tip 56 of the inserted driver 54and leads the tooth tip 56 in a direction of being brought in mesh withthe teeth portion 42 of the crown gear, and restrains displacement ofthe driver 54 in an up and down direction and in a left and rightdirection. The second driver guider permits rotation of the driver 54 incooperation with the circular hole 65 of the first driver guide 60 tothereby realize pivotal movement in a proper state of bringing the toothtip 56 of the driver 54 in mesh with the teeth portion 42 of the crowngear 40.

That is, the second driver guide 67 restrains the displacement of thedriver 54 in the up and down direction and the right direction (adirection in view from a direction of inserting the driver). Thecircular hole 65 of the first driver guide 60 restrains the displacementof the driver 54 in the left direction (left direction in view from thedirection of inserting the driver). In the case of bringing the toothtip 56 of the driver 54 in mesh with the teeth portion 42 of the crowngear 40 and pivoting the teeth portion 42, when the driver 54 isoperated to rotate in a state of engaging a side face of the driver 54with the second driver guide 67, meshing between the tooth tip 56 of thedriver 54 and teeth portion 42 of the crown gear 40 is not disengagedand therefore, the optical axis of the lamp can firmly be adjusted by asmall amount.

Further, the disk face of the crown gear 40 is provided with a raisedwrench engaging portion 45 engagement with an L-shaped wrench. Thewrench engaging portion 45 is constituted by three pieces of erectedwalls 46 in a shape of a tongue piece at equal intervals in a peripheraldirection produced by making cuts in a U-like shape at three locationsat equal intervals in the peripheral direction of the disk portion 41 ofthe crown gear 40, and folding and vertically raising areas surroundedby the cuts to the center side of the gear 40. The erected walls 46 inthe shape of the tongue piece constituting the wrench engaging portion45 are constituted to be brought in mesh with three faces of an innerperiphery of a hexagonal engaging hole 72 at a front end portion of anL-shaped wrench 70 at equal intervals and by engaging the hexagonalengaging hole 72 of the L-shaped wrench 70 to an outer side of thewrench engaging portion 45 (the erected walls 46) and turning theL-shaped wrench 70 in the direction of the arrow of FIG. 2. The gear 40(aiming screw 30) can thus firmly be pivoted by a large amount.

According to the above-described embodiment, there is constructed aconstitution in which the teeth portion 42 of the crown gear 40 isinclined to the disk face by 45 degrees and the optical axis of the lampcan be adjusted by inserting the driver from a skewed front direction of45 degrees on a side of the lamp. There also can be constructed aconstitution in which the optical axis can be adjusted from an arbitrarydirection by using the driver 54 by setting the inclination angle θrelative to the disk face of the teeth portion 42 of the crown gear 40by a predetermined angle related to the direction of insertion of thedriver, and the driver can be inserted at the rear face side of the lampbody.

Further, although the wrench engaging portion 45 is formed at the crowngear 40 fixedly integrated to the rear end portion 34 of the aimingscrew, the gear formed with the wrench engaging portion is not limitedto the crown gear 40 but may be a gear in a shape of a circular diskmade of a metal such as a spur gear.

As is apparent from the above-described explanation, the aiming screwcan be operated to pivot by a large amount by using the L-shaped wrenchextended in the direction along the rear face of the lamp piece.Therefore, the optical axis can be adjusted even when there is no spaceto insert the driver on the rear side of the lamp piece.

The wrench engaging portion can be formed simply, for example, bycutting raised areas in the tongue-like shape of the disk portion of thegear. Therefore, conventional difficulties of fabricating the rear endportion of the aiming screw can be resolved.

Further, in the disk portion, the gear is light-weight by an amount ofthe opening portion in correspondence with the wrench engaging portion.Therefore, the aiming screw is light-weight by that amount to facilitatethe pivotal movement operation of the aiming screw.

In an embodiment, meshing between the wrench engaging portion and thehexagonal engaging hole of the wrench is ensured, and the aiming screwcan firmly be pivoted by a large amount. Therefore, the optical axis canfirmly be inclined by a large amount.

Further, the constitution of the wrench engaging portion is concise andeasy to form.

There can also be constructed a constitution in which the aiming screwcan be operated to pivot by using the driver arranged from an arbitrarydirection. Therefore, the direction of arranging the driver can freelybe laid out in correspondence with a space of the vehicle body aroundthe lamp piece, to minimize restrictions in arranging the lamp piece.

Further, meshing between the tooth tip of the driver and the teethportion of the crown gear is ensured and the aiming screw can firmly bepivoted by a small amount and therefore, the optical axis can firmly beinclined by a small amount.

Rotational operation of the aiming screw by the driver becomes smooth,and therefore, adjustment of the optical axis is facilitated by thatamount.

What is claimed is:
 1. A vehicle lamp comprising: a lamp chamberpartitioned by a lamp body in a vessel-like shape and a front face lens;a reflector attachedly inserted with a light source and contained in thelamp chamber, and an aiming mechanism interposed between the lamp bodyand the reflector for inclinably supporting the reflector to the lampbody; wherein the reflector is inclined by rotating an aiming screwsupported by a screw inserting hole provided at the lamp body; andwherein an end portion of the aiming screw projecting from a rear sideof the lamp body includes an integrated circular gear proximate to thelamp body and a disk face of the gear is provided with a raised wrenchengaging portion for engaging with an L-shaped wrench, wherein thewrench engaging portion comprises raised walls in a shave of a tonguepiece from a central portion of the gear.
 2. The vehicle lamp accordingto claim 1 wherein the wrench engaging portion comprises three raisedwalls in a shape of a tongue piece at equal intervals in a peripheraldirection from a central portion of the gear for meshing with threefaces of an inner periphery at equal intervals of a hexagonal engaginghole of the wrench.
 3. The vehicle lamp according to claim 1 wherein thegear comprises a crown gear having a teeth portion that is inclined to adisk face thereof by a predetermined angle, and the lamp body isprovided with a first driver guide for guiding a driver to bring a toothtip of the driver to mesh with the teeth portion of the crown gear. 4.The vehicle lamp according to claim 2 wherein the gear comprises a crowngear having a teeth portion that is inclined to a disk face thereof by apredetermined angle, and the lamp body is provided with a first driverguide for guiding a driver to bring a tooth tip of the driver to meshwith the teeth portion of the crown gear.
 5. The vehicle lamp accordingto claim 3 wherein the lamp body comprises a second driver guide forleading the tooth tip of the driver in a direction to mesh with theteeth portion of the crown gear.
 6. The vehicle lamp according to claim4 wherein the lamp body comprises a second driver guide for leading thetooth tip of the driver in a direction to mesh with the teeth portion ofthe crown gear.
 7. An aiming mechanism for a vehicle lamp comprising: acomponent having a ball joint rotatably attached to a reflector of thelamp, for permitting the reflector to pivot about a pivot axis; and anadjustable aiming mechanism connected to the reflector and operable tocause the reflector to pivot about the pivot axis, wherein the aimingmechanism includes a bracket connected to a lamp body and an aimingscrew, the aiming screw having an integrated circular gear with teethand a disk face having raised wrench engaging portions, wherein thewrench engaging portions comprise raised walls in a shape of a tonguepiece from a central portion of the gear.
 8. The apparatus of claim 7wherein the raised wrench engaging portions are formed at equalintervals about a central portion of the disk face.
 9. The apparatus ofclaim 7 wherein the circular gear includes angled teeth inclined at apredetermined angle to the disk face.
 10. The apparatus of claim 7wherein the bracket includes a first driver guide to guide a driver tocontact the teeth.
 11. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the bracketincludes a second driver guide to guide a driver to mesh with the angledteeth.